When there’s a lot of competition for keywords in almost every market, SEO experts have to set their route and find new strategies to stay on top.
That’s why it’s critical to know what long-tail keywords are.
A long-tail keyword refers to a specific keyword phrase with three or more words. In comparison to short-tail keywords, long-tail keywords have relatively low search volume, competition levels, and cost-per-click (CPC).
A long-tail keyword can help you attract visitors with specific search intents. They get less traffic but have a higher conversion value. If you use them correctly, it can be a compelling way to take advantage of user intent. They will help you be found by new and motivated audiences.
Visitors are more likely to use it when they’re closer to the point of purchase. For example, searching for the “shirts” word on Google is unlikely to find “the one” you want. You probably just look at some shirt images and prices. But when you’re thinking about purchasing, you can ask something like “navy blue long sleeve linen shirts.” This query sounds like you know what you want and are ready to buy.
Example of a Long-Tail Keyword
When you start a blog or a website, you’ll have one main topic: the “head” keyword. This is the keyword that you want people to find you. Head keywords have huge search volume and competition as well.
How can your target audience see you while thousands of blogs and websites target the same head keywords?
This is the reason why you need long-tail keywords.
Let’s say you have a store where you sell beds, pillows, sheets, wardrobes, etc. Because your website is about bedroom furniture, sleep, and mattresses, you probably want to be found on the search term “bedroom furniture.”
According to Ahrefs data, even just in the USA, the keyword “bedroom furniture” has 135k volume, and this is great. However, you can’t optimize all your pages for the same keyword. Also, especially if you’re a relatively new business, you might want to target long-tail keywords that have less competition.
So, for example, you can target “rustic bedroom furniture near me” for your page about the topic. It has 200 search volume, but its difficulty is 5.
You can find all these long-tail keywords with a well-done keyword research. They don’t have to get 200 or fewer searches per month. You usually can compare it to the “head” keyword it includes.
Why Do We Call It Long-Tail Keywords?
The name doesn’t come from the length of the phrases. It is about the search volume.
If you plot all search queries that people have performed on Google in a month, the long-tail keywords would appear at the “tail-end” of the graph due to their low search volume.
The beginning of the curve (the head) contains short-tail keywords with high search volumes. And the rest contains billions of keywords with very low search volumes. So, they’d create a visual like a tail against the high search volume of short-tail keywords.
Reasons to Use Long-Tail Keywords
Around 70 percent of all search queries are made with long-tail keywords. With the increase in voice search, long-tail keywords gain even more importance. So, if you don’t target long-tail keywords, you miss out on valuable traffic.
Long-tail keywords help both users and site owners receive better results. While Site owners can get the traffic they want and improve their ability to gain new customers, users receive content that is more relevant to their objective.
The long-tail keywords mean less competition, but it is just one of the benefits or reasons for using them. Let’s check some of the other benefits of long-tail keywords:
1. Targets The Audience Better
When you use long-tail keywords, you can target your audience better. You know the searcher’s intent when they type in long-tail keywords. So, you can create content that is more relevant to them.
This way, you’ll have a higher chance of appearing on the first page of SERPs and getting traffic to your website. And as we said before, this traffic is more valuable because it comes from users who are actually interested in what you do or offer.
2. Gives You Insight Into Your Customers
Long-tail keywords give you valuable insights into your customers and their needs. When you do keyword research and look at long-tail keywords relevant to your business, you understand what kind of content your customers are looking for.
You can use this insight to improve your product or service offering and make it more relevant to what your target audience wants.
3. Decrease Search Competition
By targeting specific, low-volume keywords, you can decrease competition and attract high-quality leads more likely to convert.
Long-tail keywords can help you rank for a broader range of relevant terms, increasing your visibility and traffic. The benefit of using long-tail keywords is that you can achieve better results with less effort than targeting more general keywords. As a result, investing in long-tail keyword research can be a very effective way to improve your search engine optimization.
4. Improve Your Conversion Rates
One of the main benefits of long-tail keywords is that they can help you improve your conversion rates. This is because long-tail keywords are more specific, which means that the people who search for them are usually further along in the buying cycle. As a result, they are more likely to be ready to make a purchase.
Long-tail keywords can help you target your marketing more effectively, as you can use them to create ads and landing pages that are relevant to the searcher’s intent.
5. Lower Your Digital Marketing Costs
With long-tail SEO, you can lower your digital marketing costs. Compared to short-tail keywords, long-tail keywords are less competitive. Short-tail keywords’ high search volume and competition mean you need to invest more time and more money.
Long-tail keywords can help you generate more targeted traffic, making you more likely to get conversions. That translates to a bigger return on investment (ROI), which is one of the best results.
Also, because long-tail keywords are usually less competitive, you can get cheaper clicks on your ads.
6. Adapt Your Strategy to User Trends
Long-tail keywords can help you identify new trends as they emerge, as you monitor all the specific queries people do. As a result, long-tail keywords can be a very effective way to stay ahead of the curve and keep your marketing strategy up-to-date.
You’ll also keep up with new technologies and user trends like voice search. When users use that technology, they make long-tail search queries, such as searching for a “nearby restaurant.”
7. Long-Tail Keywords are Easier to Address
Because long-tail keywords are more specific, you can create content that is more relevant to them. In other words, when the search query is general, you need to include more information when addressing it. But with specific queries, you can give a brief answer.
In addition, long-tail keywords can help you target your marketing more effectively, as you can use them to create ads and landing pages relevant to the searcher’s intent.
As you may understand, long-tail keywords generally require less work.